Formatting a computer

Recently, I was tasked to perform some emergency restoration work on a cousin’s notebook computer- hardcore restoration, to the degree of formatting and reinstalling the operating system.

The end result was a system that was made in the image of my own system. No I'm not a god.

Partition the hard disc into C and D.

MS Windows XP in C.

Change default language to English (United Kingdom).

Add alternate input language Chinese (PRC).

Relocate My Documents to d:\my documents\

Create folder ‘applications’ in d:\my documents\

Insert setup files for Adobe Photoshop, MSN Messenger, MSN Messenger ad removal patch, Mozilla Firefox, Winamp & Winrar into folder ‘applications’.

Remove Windows Messenger, MSN Explorer and Outlook Express from the system.

Install Microsoft Office XP, Nero 6 Ultra Edition, Mozilla Firefox, Adobe Photoshop, MSN Messenger, Winamp and Winrar to d:\

Copy a portion of my music library into the vast emptiness of the newly formatted hard disc.

Use an image of a few cousins as the Windows desktop background.

It was not a satisfactory job:

Due to the rush, I had to make do with an original Windows XP disc, thus it needed to be activated, but the activation code was missing. Thus the OS needs to be reinstalled after 30 days with a pirated, pre-cracked version that also allows online updates.

No security software was installed.

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